The Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City ended with a short corner played straight to the opposition and, seconds later, confirmation of a home defeat to Aston Villa. The City supporters booed the referee, Guardiola wandered on to the field for some handshakes and then, for a while at least, he was gone.
It felt strange and to be honest it was a bit strange. There was not quite the outpouring of emotion that perhaps we expected or indeed hoped for. The sun shone but City’s football did not. Not until he reappeared with his players twenty minutes later, was Guardiola able to stand – rather wistfully at times – and have a look around and absorb the legacy he will leave in this part of Manchester.
City’s supporters – almost 60,000 of them now that their new stand is open – had quite a lot on their emotional plate here at the Etihad. Bernardo Silva and John Stones both played their final City games after nine and ten seasons respectively while Guardiola ended his decade-long residency with this season’s two trophies – the FA and Carabao Cups – on the pitch at the start. That’s a cool twenty pieces of silverware for the 55-year-old in England.
Silva and Stones were substituted at different times in the second half. Both were afforded a guard of honour by both sets of players. The first one, for Silva, left his manager wiping tears from his eyes with the corner of his expensive cream t-shirt. It was a lovely touch from Unai Emery’s Villa players and appeared to be led by centre forward Ollie Watkins. Equally, it was a slightly odd spectacle.
Villa were the eventual winners here on an afternoon that saw City play really well for 45 minutes and then go in to summer hibernation. This was not a testimonial, it was a competitive match and one teams like Bournemouth were hoping City would win in order to relegate Villa to the fifth Champions League place and open up a sixth place qualifying spot for them. For that to happen, mind, Liverpool also had to win at home to Brentford and we all know how that tends to go these days.
So Villa were the eventual winners here on an afternoon that saw City play really well for 45 minutes and then go in to summer hibernation. And there was even a dollop of VAR nonsense right at the death, too. Of course there was. Just when Guardiola felt as though he was free of all that.
Having been utterly anonymous all afternoon, England cast-off Phil Foden turned beautifully on to a pass in the 90th minute and smashed what appeared to be equalising goal high into the net with his left foot. It looked tight on the replays and when VAR called it offside that would have been the end of it had an image that briefly appeared on the big screens not appeared to show Foden to be the right side of the magic line. In the dugout, Erling Haaland – not in the squad – took out his ‘phone and uploaded the image to his social media platforms. That just about summed up the feeling inside the stadium.
This was a game that didn’t hugely matter to City but nobody likes to lose and so, as Guardiola readied himself for full-time by shaking hands with the Villa coaching staff, this huge modern stadium reverberated to the sound of booing. Losing will perhaps have irritated the great man a little bit too. By the time he returned to the field 20 minutes after full-time to take the fabulous acclaim of a full house that had stayed behind, he was walking that classic hurried walk of a man who knows he has somewhere new to be. For one of the greatest coaches of his or any other generation, the next phase of life is about to begin and he is not a man prone to looking over his shoulder for long.
Ten seasons ago, we had welcomed him and that was a tight game too. The team Guardiola fielded back at the start of the 2016-17 season against Sunderland featured Stones on debut and also such talents as Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero. City still needed an own goal to win 2-1. This one was different as much of what we have grown used to calling City’s first team was left sitting on the sidelines. Haaland and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, for example, were not involved.
All of that was understandable as indeed was Villa manager Emery’s decision to name an under-strength eleven of his own. Villa were fresh from winning the Europa League in Istanbul last Wednesday and not only would those players have been feeling the physical and emotional effects of that, some would perhaps have needed breathalysing before turning out to play. From afar the likes of Bournemouth waited to hear of developments and for a while it went theirs – and City’s – way.
Guardiola’s team were brisk and dynamic in the first half. The home team didn’t have a centre forward on the field but Guardiola’s City won a league title without one in 2022 and when Antoine Semenyo volleyed in from a corner in the 23rd minute it gave City a lead they deserved. Strangely, it went downhill fast thereafter. Villa were far superior in a second half that turned out to be difficult one for Stones who headed against Watkins from a 46th minute to allow the England striker to equalise and was then left on his backside on the hour as the same player turned inside him to score the winner.
So the Guardiola years closed with a defeat. But they will not forget here and nor should the rest of us. They will pay Guardiola due and deserved reverence on the streets of Manchester tomorrow.
